AGARTALA, December 25 (TIWN): To ease the problems of the air passengers Indigo is all set to start its fourth flight from the state capital Agartala to Kolkata. The flight will depart from Agartala at 5.10 PM and reach Kolkata at 6.05 PM. This will be in addition to the three flights already in operation. These are one departing at 10.45 AM and reaching at 11. 40 AM. The second Indigo flight departs at 12.25 PM and reaches Kolkata at 1 .20 PM. The third flight operating daily leaves Agartala at 3.10 PM and reaches Kolkata at 4.10 PM.

 It is be mentioned here that flight fiasco in Tripura continued with repeated cancelation of aircrafts, selling of tickets at high price and crisis of flights has taken a worst turn that leads to a chaos in the state. Besides, persuading for additional flights of Air India in Agartala-Kolkata and Agartala-Guwahati sectors, the state government has request union Cabinet Secretary to review the situation and find a way out from the crisis immediately. Transport minister Manik Dey sent an urgent message to Civil Aviation Minister Pashupati Ashok Gajapati Raju seeking his immediate intervention to normalize the situation. Chief Secretary G K Rao sought the attention of Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth over the issue. Loksabha MP Jitendra Choudhury besides, flagging the demand of additional flights and regulation of air fare to and from Agartala in the floor of parliament urged Director General of Civil Aviation Prabhat Kumar to look into the matter on urgent basis. The State Transport Secretary Samarjit Bhowmik wrote to civil aviation secretary V Somasundaran to take necessary step for overcoming the problem in air travel to and from Tripura.

Explaining the importance of air travel all the communication from the state government side reiterated that after suspension of train service between Agartala and Lumding in October last and poor condition of National Highway 44, Tripura has solely dependent on air travel for moving out from the state. According to statistics, as many as 1000-1200 people are every day traveling from Agartala to other parts of the country via Guwahati and Kolkata by air and equal number of passengers are coming in the state. "After suspension of train service ahead of annual vacation in December, the passenger pressure on air has now risen to more than 2000 in single side. But Jet Airways has withdrawn their service from Agartala, SpiceJet flights have become most irregular and Air India flight appears to be inconsistent since last month, which further complicated the situation," said Transport minister Manik Dey. He also stated that in all of the state government communication in past months, the problems had been highlighted in details even in Parliament in presence of Prime Minister several times but neither they increased Air India flights in this sector nor take any action against the arbitrary functioning of private airlines. As a result, flight fare in Agartala sector rose up to 20,000 in single fleet and after Spice Jet became irregular in operation the situation took worst turn.

However, today also the same passengers have been waiting in the airport but there is no confirmation of travel except Indigo flights. Airport authority is not even providing minimum service to the passengers despite collecting tax on each of the tickets and finally for last two days the state government deputed additional police and civil officials to manage the situation along with providing food to the passengers, he added.

Meanwhile, the State Government had recently reduced the ATF VAT upto 18% from 22%. But with comparison with other States, the range is still larger. According to the recent data; Telangana has plans to bring down the VAT on ATF to about 4 per cent. Currently, Gujarat, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal levy 4-5 per cent sales tax on ATF followed by Goa, which last year reduced the tax slab from 22-12.5 per cent.